Looking In Hillary's Religious Closet

Over at Muze's place in the comments, I mentioned that I hoped that one good thing to come out of the furor over Barack Obama's pastor would be a good examination of the religious loons surrounding the other candidates. In order to do my part, I'll pass along this not really new article from Mother Jones about Hillary Clinton's membership in "The Fellowship." What is The Fellowship?

When Clinton first came to Washington in 1993, one of her first steps was to join a Bible study group. For the next eight years, she regularly met with a Christian "cell" whose members included Susan Baker, wife of Bush consigliere James Baker; Joanne Kemp, wife of conservative icon Jack Kemp; Eileen Bakke, wife of Dennis Bakke, a leader in the anti-union Christian management movement; and Grace Nelson, the wife of Senator Bill Nelson, a conservative Florida Democrat.

Clinton's prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or 'the Family'), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to "spiritual war" on behalf of Christ, many of them recruited at the Fellowship's only public event, the annual National Prayer Breakfast. (Aside from the breakfast, the group has 'made a fetish of being invisible,' former Republican Senator William Armstrong has said.) The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan.

Say what you want about Jeremiah Wright's tirades, this is some scary shit. So scary, in fact, I'm tempted to think that it's not quite accurate. However, according to this current article in The Nation, the author is a former member who is getting ready to release a more detailed book about the group. I'm inclined to think there's something to it. At the very least, I'd like to see Hillary explain it.

And, just so the GOP doesn't feel left out, what about the Moonies?!

UPDATE: Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars, here's a handy chart (from the author of Bad Moon Rising) comparing Wright and Moon.